Of Demons and Monsters
by Resurrection of the Forgotten
Summary: As children they were called demon and monster their lives filled with pain, hatred, and loneliness. They saved each other but were forced to part. Now that they've been brought together again they will have to face many tribulations in order to be kept from being torn apart once more. Though the foes they will face are tied to them in ways that even they don't know.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Its been a few months since my last post and I apologize to those who were hoping that I'd update one of the fics that I already have out, but this fic has had most of my focus. Plus, having read the other fics for this crossover, big fan and can't wait for any of them to be updated, I wanted to write one of my own. A smidge of good news is that at the very least I've started working on few updates for my other fics. Unfortunately, none of them are near finished though I will try to get them done as soon as possible.**

 **Disclaimer I do NOT own Naruto or Darling in the Franxx**

* * *

Chapter 1

"Talking"  
 _'Thinking'  
_ **(Author's Notes)**

Whenever Jiraiya thought of how he'd meet his end he always expected it to be on the battle field. Though he sincerely hoped and prayed to every deity in existence that when he died it would be smothered in a pile of the sexiest women in the entire Elemental Nations while completely naked, with the bonus of it being Tsunade's large assets that his head was resting on. But as much as he wished it was the second option Jiraiya knew that chances were' it would be the first.

He never imagined that he would die because of the overly sweet display that he was being forced to endure. When he had heard people say, 'So sweet I could die.', he thought they over exaggerating in the worst way. Now he knew better. Kami did he wish he didn't know better.

"Well don't you two just look chipper today." He remarked his voice carrying a slightly sour edge to it.

The two people ahead of him glanced back at Jiraiya from over their shoulders with brilliant smiles on their faces.

"We haven't seen Konoha in three years and were finally going home. Of course, I'm excited!"

"I'm with my Darling, why wouldn't I be happy Ero-sennin?"

Jiraiya cringed at the name. It was a nickname that his student had come up with when they had first met. It was an insult that meant Pervy-Sage. Wherever they went, whoever they met, he never failed to call him that at least once. What was more insulting was the fact that it made him out to be some simple perverted old man. He was a man among men, worshiped by women across the Elemental Nations. A pervert without equal the Legendary Super Pervert.

Worse then being labeled a simple pervert though was the fact that it wasn't even his student that called him that. But rather the person walking next to him. _'Dear Kami,'_ Jiraiya grasped in horror. _'It's spreading like a disease!'_ He had to quickly shake the disturbing thought.

Seeing a girl with long pink hair, fair colored skin with a flawless complexion, and green like eyes, cyan actually, one could be forgiven for mistaking her for Sakura Haruno of Konoha, though the similarities between the two ended there. The most obvious distinction were the two small red horns that sat atop the girl's head with a white metallic head band at their base. Around the corner of her eyes was what looked like red eyeliner. And though he couldn't see them Jiraiya knew that the pinkette possessed a pair of fangs. She wore a red military styled uniform with a white collar and orange tie, white overcoat, with black leggings and white high-heeled sandals. Jiraiya did notice that the girl was missing the white officer's cap that she normally wore that hid her horns.

Walking next to her, their arms intertwined, was his student Naruto Uzumaki; a sun kissed blonde with slightly tanned skin and cerulean blue eyes. He wore orange pants with an orange jacket that had black mixed in near the jackets top and down the front, and on the back was the red Uzumaki swirl. On his forehead was a black clothed Konoha headband and on his feet black shinobi sandals. Three distinctive whisker marks were on each of his cheeks.

The pair grinned back at Jiraiya with remarkably similar grins before returning to their whispered conversation that Jiraiya had previously interrupted, the pink haired girl giggling every once in a while, at something that Naruto said. If he wanted to Jiraiya knew that he could listen in on the pair's conversation, but even as a super pervert there were some things he just didn't want to hear.

* * *

Naruto stared out at Konoha from where he stood on top of an electrical pole a fond smile spreading widely across his face. He had been all across the Elemental Nations on his training trip with Jiraiya, but there was no place quite like Konoha. The bonds he had formed, the memories he had made, the good and bad ones, it all made Konoha his home and now that he was back Naruto realized just how much he missed it. "This place hasn't changed at all." Naruto said fondly, though he did catch something that was different. "Guess they finally got around to adding Baa-chan's face." He commented to himself staring at the Hokage monument. _'I'm going to be up there someday.'_ Naruto thought filled with determination. He would achieve his dream it was all just a matter of time.

Jiraiya let out a heavy sigh as an amused grin cross his face. _'That brat just doesn't change.'_ The Toad Sage thought.

The pink haired girl stared up at her Darling with a smile of her own. At the moment she couldn't understand what he was feeling, the happiness of finally being home. She didn't have such a place of her own. Honestly, she didn't care if she ever had such a place because she had her Darling and what else could she ever want. Of course, his happiness was also important and that was why she was happy at that moment.

"Naruto!" A female's voice drew the girl's attention away from her Darling to another girl walking toward them calling her Darling's name. She had pink hair and green eyes like she did and that was enough for her to identify this girl as Sakura Haruno, her Darling's teammate. Her Darling had told her about Sakura on a few occasions. Seeing the other girl, the horned pinkette didn't want to acknowledge the flare of that jealousy bloomed in her chest for a moment; even as the smile she sported was wiped away and she stared at the other girl fixedly.

"Sakura?" Naruto replied spotting his teammate down below. Her outfit had changed since he last saw her; she wore a red sleeveless top with a pink skirt, elbow protectors of the same color, black shorts underneath her skirt, black gloves and knee-high black boots, and the cloth of her forehead protector was replaced with a red one. Jumping from the top of the pole Naruto landed only a couple of feet from his teammate. "Hey." He greeted her with his trade mark grin.

Sakura returned her teammate's smile with one of her own taking in how much he had changed in the last three years. He was taller then her now and his clothes had changed, but beside that she really couldn't see anything different about him. His eyes were as bright as ever with a smile to match and a presence that was as open and welcoming as she remembered. When they were first put on the same team Sakura didn't have very high opinion of Naruto, or a good one for that matter, but during their time on Team 7 Naruto had quickly, if not a bit roughly, become one of her best friends and Sakura was happy to have him back after so long.

The medic-nin was brought of her introspection when a pair of slender arms wrapped themselves possessively around one of Naruto's own. Sakura blinked bewilderment when a girl that looked remarkably like her appeared at Naruto's side. Faintly Sakura thought that even their clothes were vaguely similar, even if only in their color scheme.

"Hi, I'm Sakura Haruno." Sakura eventually got out introducing herself, though she was feeling perplexed and curious of the girl in front of her. "And you are?" She asked at least figuring the girl was someone that Naruto met during his journey. Who he was apparently very close to.

With a sly smirk, as she brought the arm she holding closer to herself until it was resting firmly between her breasts, the girl responded to Sakura's introduction with her own. "You can call me Zero Two." The oni like woman said.

"Zero Two?" Sakura repeated bewildered at the strange name.

* * *

Eventually Jiraiya, Naruto, Zero Two along with Sakura found themselves in the Hokage's office standing across from Tsunade Senju, the Fifth Hokage. Despite being a beautiful woman with blonde hair, chocolate brown eyes, and possessing the biggest breasts many in the Elemental Nations have ever seen, Tsunade was actually the same age as her old teammate Jiraiya, using a powerful Genjutsu to hide her true appearance.

Currently she was staring intently at the three who had just returned to Konoha. Two of them she had expected, Jiraiya looking the same as when he left and Naruto having grown during his time away, but the third person was completely unexpected and was who Tsunade was focusing most of her attention on. The pink haired girl hardly looked like she cared about the fact that she was standing in front of the Hokage, looking around as she was, and actually appeared bored if the expression she was sporting was any indication. Tsunade repressed a sigh as she tried to ignore the temptation to grab one of the saki bottles that she kept in her desk or rub her temples.

Zero Two, _'What kind of name is that?'_ Tsunade wondered idly.

Then again, there was a girl in the village who had the name Tenten. So sure, why not.

The fact that the girl had come with Jiraiya and Naruto was hardly an issue. That she was standing so close to Naruto was mildly interesting, Tsunade having raised an eyebrow when the pair walked into her office and the girl had her arms wrapped around one of Naruto's arms. What she found a little annoying was the fact that Jiraiya had never mentioned the girl in a single one of the reports that he had sent her, and now the girl was here with the intention of joining Konoha's ranks as a kunoichi and was fully expecting to be assigned to the same team as Naruto.

It's not like she couldn't do it, she was the Hokage after all. In the past Sarutobi had basically handed out headbands to anyone who wanted to join the village and be a shinobi. But she wasn't Sarutobi, she wasn't about let someone become a shinobi under her command without at least an assessment of their skills first. Though a little consideration on her behalf would have also been appreciated, she already had mountains of paper work and this would only add to it.

"Fine," Tsunade agreed with a heavy sigh before a smirk spread across her face. "Actually, this is the perfect chance to see how much you two have grown in these last three years as well." Tsunade said addressing Naruto and Sakura. "What do you think, Kakashi?" She asked confusing the three teens until someone stood up from just the other side of the windows to the room. He had grey hair that stood nearly straight up wearing the standard Konoha shinobi uniform, a face mask covering the lower half of his face and his headband concealing his left eye.

"That sounds like a good idea." Kakashi stated, entering the room through the window, to his leader before turning his attention to the student that he hadn't seen in three years.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto greeted his old sensei happily.

"Yo," Kakashi returned with a wave of hind, his other holding a copy of Icha Icha. "It's been a while Naruto." He said with an eye smile.

As happy as Naruto was to see Kakashi he remembered something that he had planned to give to Kakashi. Searching through his backpack for all of a second Naruto pulled an item out. "Here, it's the latest issue in the Icha Icha series Ero-sennin gave me." Naruto told Kakashi holding out a small green book to Kakashi. "I thought it was boring, but I think you'll like it."

Off to the side Jiraiya let out a huff as he crossed his arms over his chest. _'Ungrateful brat. You don't understand the first thing about good literature.'_ Jiraiya thought silently.

Kakashi slowly reached out for the as of yet unreleased book, his hands trembling as if presented with the most holy of items. Yet before Kakashi could take it out of Naruto's hands a female one snatched it from him.

"Ne, Darling, you shouldn't give this away when we should keep this for ourselves." Zero Two claimed with teasing smirk on her face. "It might have been written by Ero-sennin, but it might inspire our own fun." She added causing Naruto's face to burn red.

' _Darling?'_ A majority of the room thought flummoxed by the intimate term of address the girl used.

' _And she calls me a perv._ ' The Toad Sage scoffed mentally before a self-satisfied grin spread across his face. _'At least one of them appreciates my art.'_

Kakashi was able to eventually snap out of his stupor, his eyes trained on the book in Zero Two's hands as the realization that he wouldn't be receiving his gift dawned on him. "But, but." The grey haired Jōnin mumbled holding a desperate hand out for the book.

"Quit griping Kakashi we have other matters to attend to." Tsunade scolded the masked man, getting a pitiful nod from him. Tsunade let out a sigh and shook her head at how pathetic one her most respected Jōnin was acting before returning her attention to the three teens in the room, making a note with a tick of her brow how the girl, Zero Two, was casually leafing through Jiraiya's book. "We'll be holding your evaluation at Training Ground 7 in half an hour so get ready." The female Hokage told them, giving them the chance to gather any tools they might not already have on them.

* * *

Sitting on the edge of the river that flowed through the training grounds of Team 7 Naruto stared out at the water. Since he got there Naruto had been flooded with the memories of his time on Team 7 with Kakashi-sensei, Sakura… and Sasuke.

If he looked behind him Naruto knew he would see the three training posts, one of which he had been tied to, and not far away from them was the Memorial Stone where Kakashi imparted his most important lesson to his three students. So many things had changed since they had first become a team.

"Naruto!" Sakura's voice called out to the blonde shinobi rousing him from his thoughts as he turned his head slightly to see the pink haired kunoichi land a few feet behind him. "Hey!"

"Hey Sakura," Naruto replied a little nervously his eyes flicking back to the river.

Sakura easily picked on Naruto's nervousness, and how he kept glancing back at the river, yet when she looked over at it she couldn't spot anything that would cause Naruto to be so nervous. Eyeing him suspiciously Sakura approached her teammate slowly trying to figure out what had him so rattled. "Alright, what's with you?" Sakura demanded.

Naruto tried to wave off Sakura's suspicion but the cause for his nervousness made itself apparent at that very moment. From the river Zero Two broke through the water's surface, droplets of water sparkling around her. There were two things about the girl that stood out to Sakura; first was the fish in the girl's mouth, though that was really inconsequential compared to the other thing; second, and most prevalent, was the fact that Zero Two was completely naked. It was only then that Sakura finally noticed the folded pile of clothes resting neatly next to Naruto.

As dumbfounded as she was Sakura couldn't help but to take in Zero Two's form. Her supple breasts, that Sakura with more then a hint of envy realized were larger then hers, toned stomach and slim waist. With her eyes trailing lower Sakura couldn't quite confirm if the other girl had natural pink her like herself. With a blush that had been growing darker every second since she laid eyes on Zero Two, Sakura managed to finally tear her eyes away from the naked girl to land back on Naruto. As flustered as she was Sakura immediately reverted to her default settings, which were to clobber Naruto on the head for anything perverted. "NARUTO! YOU PERVERT!"

Naruto stared in awe at Zero Two's naked form, clearly seeing the mischievous sparkle in her eyes as she stared back at him. It was hardly the first time that he had seen the girl naked, Zero Two hardly being shy about her body where he was concerned, yet he always found himself entranced by her each time and each time he made sure to commit everything to memory. Naruto only got to enjoy the moment for a couple of seconds though before Sakura's shout caused the blonde shinobi to flinch. It might have been a couple of years since Naruto had heard Sakura say his name like that but on instinct he braced himself for the punch that he knew would be coming his way. Yet as Sakura advanced on her teammate before she could even get into striking distance she felt something wet and scaly smack her in the face. Stumbling back a step Sakura looked down at her feet with a stupefied look on her face spotting a fish lying at there. Looking back up at the only place it could have come from Sakura felt her whole-body freeze at the glare that was being directed at her by the other pink haired girl.

' _H-her eyes, are her eyes red?'_ Sakura thought with some difficulty, staring at the red pupils with cyan iris eyes of the girl. A second later Zero Two shifted her attention away from Sakura causing the girl to lean forward slightly nearly letting out a gasp of air. _'W-what was that? KI?'_ She wondered. It had been a long time since she encountered Zabuza and Orochimaru and felt the effect of their Killing Intent, and the Killing Intent of some not so noteworthy shinobi, but what she had just experienced seemed different somehow. Looking at Zero Two watching her carefully Sakura didn't notice anything out of the ordinary about the girl, besides her horns, and that her eyes were her normal cyan color leaving Sakura wonder if she had just imagined the whole thing.

With a confident smirk on her face Zero Two placed a hand on Naruto's cheek drawing his attention back to her. With his eyes opening Naruto stared up at Zero Two before his eyes started to drift downward, the girl taking a special delight at the gleam of lust that appeared in his eyes as he did so. Leaning over, providing a quiet tantalizing view if anyone had been behind her, "I don't mind if Darling is a pervert. As long as he is being perverted over me." Zero Two stated, leaning closer as she licked Naruto's whiskered cheek her smirk growing wider as the blonde shivered. "This taste always gets my heart racing." She murmured savoring all the flavor she got from her Darling. How could Zero Two describe everything that she experienced about her Darling from that one taste of him. His kindness, bravery, compassion, selflessness, and power; in a sense it had all been conveyed to her in that one instant. Not to mention the sensation of danger that was present as well. It was all uniquely his. "Although," Zero continued taking a small lick of her arm and a dissatisfied look appeared on her face. "This isn't salty like the ocean at all." The oni muttered disappointingly.

"Well it is only a river." Naruto pointed out with a cheeky grin.

"Darling~!" Zero Two whined cutely. "I know that much, but lakes and rivers like these are the closest I've come to actually swimming in the ocean." She pouted.

Sakura stared at the two teens, her blush as dark as ever, feeling like she was completely forgotten about by them. With a twitching eyebrow Sakura coughed into her closed hand in order to try to get the pairs attention. When she saw that they were both staring at her the pink haired kunoichi did her best to keep her eyes from trailing where they shouldn't. "What do you think your doing?" She questioned them staring at Zero Two for a moment and then quickly averted her gaze.

Zero two straightened herself to her full height placing her hands on her hips. "I wanted to go for a swim." Zero Two stated obviously. "And I decided to take a bath while I was at it." She added.

"And your okay with doing something like that here and letting Naruto to see you naked?!" Sakura nearly shouted out scandalized.

Zero Two shrugged her shoulders uncaring. "I already said that I don't mind as long as it's Darling." She replied.

Sakura stared at the girl, blinking a couple of times stupefied, before she rested her face against the palm of her hand. "Could you please just get dressed." Sakura begged exasperatedly.

With another shrug of her shoulders Zero Two reached for the clothes that she had laid out next to Naruto. When she was done Sakura saw that Zero Two was wearing something different from what she had on earlier. She wore a red top that almost seemed like it was skin tight. Over that was a jacket of the same color accented white along the edges and a hoodie that looked like it was almost ridiculously big in Sakura's opinion. Black shinobi pants along with her white sandals. Besides that, Sakura saw that Zero Two was also still wearing her white head band.

For the next hour the three teens waited for Kakashi to show up, two of them very well used to their sensei's propensity for arriving late for everything and the third having been informed ahead of time that it was likely to happen. Still even knowing that it was going to happen Zero Two quickly found her patience with the grey haired Jōnin running thin. That's why when Kakashi did appear in the cloud of smoke of a Shunshin he found himself dodging not one, not two, but three kunai that came close to impaling his head. At first Kakashi figured that his two students and Zero Two had gotten tired of waiting and were expressing their displeasure quiet openly and obviously. Only when he looked over at the three teens he found Sakura with a shocked expression on her face, surprisingly pale, and Naruto trying desperately to keep Zero Two from throwing a fourth kunai at him. By the looks of it he wasn't going to succeed.

"Y-yo." Kakashi greeted them a tad bit put off.

"Your late Kakashi-sensei." Naruto grunted out, his arms wrapped around one of Zero Two's.

Kakashi considered offering up one of his excuses to why he was late but thought better of it rather then risk Zero Two realizing that she still had one free hand that she could use to attack him. "Yeah, so why don't we get right to it." He suggested, reaching into his pocket and pulled out a trio of bells. "I'm sure that you two remember these." Kakashi said addressing his two students. "The rules will be the same as when we first met. If you don't come at me with the intent to kill, you will never succeed in getting the bells."

Naruto and Sakura stared at the bells each sporting a determined look in their eyes. While Zero Two didn't share the same history with the Bell Test that Naruto and Sakura did she was just as determined. After all this test was also to evaluate if she was suitable to be on a team with her Darling and she wasn't about to let anything stand in the way of that.

"You'll have until sunrise tomorrow." Kakashi continued. "Now things are obviously different from back then." He said glancing at Zero Two. "At that time Sasuke was the one with us…" The Jōnin said only to trail off as he watched as Naruto and Sakura fall to the ground in depression. _'I guess Sasuke's name is still a taboo for these two.'_ Kakashi thought silently.

Zero Two clenched her fists until her nails dug into her hands.

Off to the side watching the proceedings from the trees located near the edge of the training grounds were Jiraiya and Tsunade. Both had come to see how their respective student fared against their old teacher. Tsunade though was also there to see with her own eyes what Zero Two was capable of and if she really had the skills and abilities to be a kunoichi of Konoha. Glancing at her companion standing beside her, Tsunade noticed how serious Jiraiya seemed to be, something that was strange for Jiraiya when he wasn't in a fight. "And you're sure you can't tell me anything that girl is capable of?" She questioned her fellow Sannin.

Jiraiya peeked briefly over at Tsunade before turning his attention back to the open field. "There are plenty of things I can tell you about Zero Two." Jiraiya admitted before shaking his head slightly. "No there are things that I definitely need to tell you about her." He continued gravely. "But for now, its best if you just see for yourself."

Tsunade stared at Jiraiya for a moment longer, her brows furrowed, trying to figure out what had the lecherous old pervert acting so strangely.

"Well then," Kakashi started, drawing Naruto's and Sakura's attention and getting them out of their depressed stated. "Shall we begin?" He finished reaching for his headband and fixing it to reveal his Sharingan eye, getting Naruto and Sakura's absolute attention. "Although this time I feel like I'll have to take things a little seriously too."

Naruto acted first launching shuriken at Kakashi. Even without his sharingan Kakashi would have been able to dodge the shuriken that Naruto threw so with it, it was almost laughably easy for the Jōnin to duck under them and then retaliate with his own. Naruto shot up into the air in order to dodge but immediately had to create a Kage Bunshin to move him through the air to avoid a second barrage of shuriken from Kakashi. Once he landed on the ground Naruto had his clone transform into a giant shuriken, yet before he could throw it he felt Kakashi suddenly appear behind him; one hand holding his head still and the other moving his arm so that the giant shuriken was close to the back of his neck.

"Still as hasty as ever I see." Kakashi commented causally while internally he was a little impressed at how effective Naruto had gotten at using his clones in the last three years. "You didn't wait for me to say start again."

Naruto smirked back at Kakashi. "Heh, I just wanted to get the first shot in before she did." He told Kakashi.

"Hm?" They grey haired Jōnin hummed curiously only for his eyes to widen not even a second later. Instincts that he had developed through countless life or death situations screamed at Kakashi to move. Without a second thought Kakashi dove out of the way hearing the rush of air and the sound something big imbedding itself into the ground where he had just been standing. Landing in a crouch Kakashi looked behind him at the cause.

Kakashi couldn't say that he was all that surprised when he saw that it was Zero Two who attacked him. But what ultimately drew Kakashi attention was the spear that she was now carrying. Its handle was a pure white while the blade was rounded at its tip and squared off near the base. The blade was colored a light orange with a couple of white rings near the base. It was different from any spear Kakashi had ever seen before and he was sure that there was more to it that he couldn't quiet make out from the way it was angled.

"Neither of them is really the patient type, are they?" Kakashi murmured softly to himself with a sweat drop. _'If I hadn't moved she might have really killed me.'_ He thought watching Zero Two pull her lance out of the ground. _'Well at least I know she's taking this seriously.'_ "Alright then, start." Kakashi said out loud before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

Sakura found herself staring at the duo not quite sure if she should be in awe of them or aghast at the fact that Zero Two actually looked like she was aiming to kill Kakashi. But when Kakashi disappeared Sakura snapped herself out of her daze and immediately started looking for the man. _'He's not to the left, right, behind, or above.'_ Sakura thought quickly, glancing each if those places before coming to the only remaining possibility. "Then its below!" The kunoichi cried gathering chakra into her fist before slamming it into the ground beneath her and unleashing it all at once. With the earth shattering around her Sakura looked through the rubble that she created with a smirk on her face as she spotted Kakashi within it. "Found you."

Kakashi stared at Sakura wide eyed only his mask keeping him from his mouth hanging open as well. _'The Godaime didn't just teach her Medical Ninjutsu.'_ Kakashi thought obviously. _'With Medical Ninjutsu, this amazing strength, and Sakura's natural talent for Genjutsu she may become a stronger kunoichi then the Godaime.'_

Zero Two whistled impressed, despite the rather low of opinion of Sakura that she had at the moment, Zero Two had to admit that what she had just seen Sakura do was rather extraordinary. Naruto's thoughts followed along the same line as Zero Two's only his concluded with that Sakura could kill him if he wasn't careful around her. Off to the side Jiraiya stared at Tsunade dryly while the woman stuck out her chest with pride to match.

Kakashi moved to stand on top of the rubble, getting a clear line of sight on his three opponents. "I guess it's my turn to do something." The Jōnin mused going through some hand seals. "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" Kakashi released a giant ball of fire that roared toward Naruto and the two pink haired girls. Three years ago, Kakashi would never have considered even using such a jutsu against his students, but they grown a lot since then and he was confident they could easily deal with this level attack.

And while Kakashi wasn't wrong he wasn't expecting what happened either.

With a battle cry Zero Two charged straight through Kakashi's jutsu her lance thrust forward, the flames dispersing around it, leaving Zero Two completely unharmed and heading straight for the Jōnin; though Kakashi had already jumped back to put more distance between himself and Zero Two. As he moved away Kakashi picked up on something that he might have missed had he not been using his sharingan, the blade of the lance was glowing as chakra flowed through it. Now chakra conductive metal was hardly something new to Kakashi the orange glow was a nice little trick, but he figured it was just a result of the color of the blade.

Out of his peripheral vision Kakashi caught Naruto once more jumping into the air throwing the giant shuriken that he still possessed. Almost fluidly Kakashi sidestepped the thrown giant shuriken and just as easily slid his hand through the hole at the shuriken's center. Letting the shuriken's momentum carry him Kakashi spun in a full circle before throwing it at Zero Two.

The oni didn't slow in her charge at all, her gaze firmly locked on Kakashi, brimming with confidence and having absolute trust in her Darling. When the shuriken was only a few inches from Zero Two's face, and Kakashi's eyes widening actually thinking that she was about to be hit, it suddenly went up in a cloud of smoke the jutsu being released. With a wide grin Zero Two thrust her spear forward once more as it glowed brighter.

When he thought that Zero Two was going to be hit with the shuriken Kakashi instinctively moved forward in an effort to keep that from happening. Seeing the shuriken disappear Kakashi instantly pulled back his sharingan trained on the lance, as more and more chakra was channeled into it, although he realized that it was probably already to late. A second later a blinding flash of bright orange light surged from the lance heading straight for him and impulsively Kakashi performed a Kawarimi and what was left were the charred remains of a log.

Within the woods hiding behind a tree squinting with his sharingan eye Kakashi tried to see through it only to give up after a minute and slide his hitai-ate over the eye. If there was a downside to a Dōjutsu it was their sensitively to light. Looking at the log with his normal eye Kakashi saw that it was broken into pieces and severely burned. _'So, either her lance creates explosions or she was channeling fire chakra into it and then released it all at once.'_ Kakashi rationalized leaning toward the latter.

Sakura approached Zero Two, Naruto landing beside her, while she was curious about what she had seen the other pink haired girl do she was more focused finding Kakashi. "Where is he?" Sakura asked them her eyes searching for any sign of the Jōnin. Zero Two ignored Sakura for the most part as she sniffed at the air. Seeing what she was doing Sakura couldn't help but look at Zero Two strangely. "What are you doing?" She continued to question.

With Zero Two focused on finding Kakashi, Naruto decided to answer for her. "Zero Two has a sense of smell as good as Kiba's." He explained simply with a smirk on his face.

"Oh," Sakura mumbled her eyes widened a bit as she gazed at Zero Two.

After a few more seconds a large grin spread across Zero Two's face. "Found him." She declared taking off towards the woods.

Seeing the three teens heading towards him Kakashi retaliated by throwing some kunai at them only for them all to be deflected by a quick swing of Zero Two's lance. The oni attacked Kakashi repeatedly with her lance only for the man to stay just out of the reach of her stabs, feeling intense heat coming off it with each strike. Following another failed attempt by Zero Two, Kakashi rushed Zero Two, landing a couple of quick jabs on her arms to keep her from retaliating with her spear before landing a solid punch on her head. The pink haired oni felt herself stumbling back for a second from Kakashi's punch before she felt him grab hold of her jacket. Spinning around, forcing Naruto and Sakura to jump back to avoid being struck by either Zero Two or her lance, Kakashi tossed the cyan eyed girl at a nearby tree watching as her back slammed into it.

Kakashi didn't have a moment to relax, or even to enjoy his small victory over Zero Two, before he had to dodge a punch thrown at him by Sakura. While he still managed to dodge Sakura's strikes like he did Zero Two, knowing that if he blocked them he'd either wind up with broken bones or on his back, he also had to deal with the earth shattering beneath his feet and quakes being created whenever one of Sakura's punches or kicks struck the ground.

Naruto lunged at Kakashi from behind arm outstretched trying to snag the bells that were tied to Kakashi's waist. Just as Naruto managed to land a finger on one of the bells Kakashi clasped his hand keeping a firm hold on him. Naruto retaliated by throwing a punch at Kakashi only for the Jōnin to block it with his other free hand. Trapped in a deadlock with the man Naruto smirked at Kakashi.

Kakashi was confused by the smirk on Naruto's face until he sensed something behind him. Looking over his shoulder Kakashi saw another Naruto coming at him. _'A Kage Bunshin!'_ Kakashi realized in slight alarm. Quickly getting over his surprise Kakashi spun around tossing Naruto at his clone before delivering a kick to Naruto's chest.

Advancing on Kakashi, Sakura punched at him only for the man to immediately start to backpedal in order to dodge her attacks. After a few seconds of dodging Kakashi found his back against a tree. He briefly glanced back at it before he dove out of the way just as Sakura threw another punch, her fist going straight through the tree. With the tree falling over her Sakura had to disengage.

The three teens regrouped, giving Kakashi a few seconds to catch his breath, although the respite didn't last long before the three of them once more charged at Kakashi. Before they could reach him though the Jōnin dropped a couple of smoke bombs that completely hid him from view. Zero Two swung her lance through the cloud of smoke only to let out a groan of disappointment when it was clear that Kakashi was no longer there.

"This again." Zero Two muttered as she began to sniff the air in order to track Kakashi down once more.

"Even without the sharingan Kakashi-sensei is really strong." Naruto said searching the forest for any signs of Kakashi.

"Well he is a Jōnin." Sakura pointed out obviously, her mind busy going through everything that she knew about Kakashi hoping to come up with a weakness they could exploit. "And since he can't use his sharingan right now he'll probably buy as much time as he can for it to recover." She voiced out, thinking of the one thing that was currently going for them. The flash that Zero Two created with her attack had been nearly enough to blind Sakura she could only imagine what it would do to someone with a Dōjutsu.

"Then I'll just blind him again." Zero Two stated confidently, hefting her lance a bit.

Naruto and Sakura nodded in agreement at the advantage they had. "Kakashi-sensei won't fall for the same trick twice though." Sakura said surely.

"We just ne-" Zero Two started only for her eyes to widen as she caught Kakashi's scent… from right above them. "MOVE!" The oni shouted moving toward Naruto and jumping away from the area with him. It took Sakura a fraction of a second longer to figure out what was going on before she too got out of the way, just as a several kunai landed where they had been standing. In the next instant Kakashi appeared were they once stood and along side him were two Kage Bunshin of himself.

Each of the Kakashi's grabbed a kunai that were on the ground before they each picked at an opponent. Naruto and Zero Two moved away from each other, giving one another enough room to fight their respective Kakashi, Naruto grabbing his own kunai from his pouch.

Zero Two found herself backtracking, moving her further and further away from Naruto, as she clashed with Kakashi blocking his slashes with her lance. At any other point Zero Two would have the advantage over Kakashi's kunai thanks to her lance, but the Jōnin was using his superior speed to keep her off balance.

Naruto and Sakura were in the same boat as Zero Two, both of them realizing just how better skilled Kakashi was. When Team 7 was first formed and Kakashi tested them, he stressed just how important teamwork was and how working as one cohesive unit they would be able to take down foes far stronger than them. Now he was doing his utmost to keep them separated and prevent that from happening. Having a better then fair understanding of this Naruto and Sakura fought fervently against their respective Kakashi. Either to catch one by surprise and be able to land a successful blow on them, and hope it didn't turn out to be the real Kakashi, or survive long enough for an opening to present it self so that they could regroup with one of the others.

Sakura dodged under one of Kakashi's punches and then had to block a kick using her forearms. Putting some distance between herself and Kakashi, Sakura continued to retreat until her back came to rest against a tree. But unlike most people instead of panicking a smirk appeared on her face causing Kakashi to stare at her cautiously. Quickly spinning around Sakura tore through the base of the tree. Having seen her do this already once before Kakashi wasn't nearly as surprised when he saw Sakura do it again, his eyes did widen in horror as he paled beneath his mask though when instead of just letting the tree fall he watched the pink haired kunoichi grab a hold of it. With her super strength Sakura launched it at Kakashi.

' _Shit,'_ Kakashi thought seeing the tree coming at him.

Sakura didn't stay to see the aftermath of her attack, Kakashi or his bunshin either being distracted avoiding the attack or the bunshin being dispelled because of it, instead choosing to find either Naruto or Zero Two.

* * *

Zero Two swung her lance feverishly and although she would hate to admit it she knew she was on the defensive. The problem was the longer that she was on the defensive the more reckless she became as evident by the few tears in her clothes and the cut on her cheek with a small trail of blood going down it. Now while Kakashi had the advantage that didn't mean that he had it easy. With every passing second Zero Two's attacks were becoming faster and faster, already Kakashi had had several close calls, and with the intense heat that was continuously coming off the spear Kakashi had more than broken a sweat. What Kakashi found most concerning was how Zero Two was slowly improving the longer they fought. Kakashi didn't know if Zero Two was just growing used to his fighting style or if the girl was naturally improving as the fight dragged on, which would go along with her becoming faster by the second. Either way it wasn't good for Kakashi.

' _Well she has more then proven her skills in Taijutsu.'_ Kakashi thought backing away from Zero Two. _'Let's see how she does with some Genjutsu.'_

Zero Two paused for only a second after Kakashi broke off from her before she charged back at him. When she saw Kakashi start to go through hand seals Zero Two braced herself for whatever jutsu that Kakashi planned throwing at her. Pushing off the ground Zero Two jumped high into the air, her lance pulled back. As she was coming down Zero Two thrust her lance forward unleashing a blast, one not as strong as the first. Yet before the blast could hit Kakashi or the lance could tear through him he just seemed to fade away.

Landing on the ground Zero Two started to look around searching for where Kakashi had gone. "Where is he?" Zero Two muttered having lost completely lost track of Kakashi, she couldn't even smell him. Then there was all the fact that the area had grown dark all of a sudden.

"Z-Zero Two," Naruto's voice called out to the pink haired oni.

Almost instantly Zero Two forgot all about searching for Kakashi as she turned to face Naruto only for her eyes to widen in horror at what she saw; Naruto standing in front of her severely wounded. His hitai-ate was missing and his clothes were nearly in tatters and Zero Two could see various splotches of blood all over, the biggest stain covering nearly all of his abdomen. His right arm hung limply at his side, the sleeve of the jacket torn open, with blood trailing down the hand and forming a small puddle steadily beneath it, looking closely Zero Two could see some discoloration in the limb. Her Darling's blonde hair was matted down by blood and a fair bit of it was now dyed red. Naruto's face was heavily bruised his right eye nearly swollen shut. What alarmed Zero Two the most was the large amount of blood present on the other half of his face and how his hair was blocking her view of his left eye and the damage she was afraid she would find. "Dar-" Zero Two swallowed heavily. "-ling."

Naruto grinned at her, as best he could, before he started to fall forward. Zero Two shot toward Naruto catching him before he hit the ground.

Darling!" The oni cried, tears gathering in the corner of her eyes, "Darling!" Gently Zero Two turned Naruto in her arms as she slowly knelt on the ground staring down at Naruto in her arms.

Naruto's grin widened a bit more raising his one good arm up to Zero Two's cheek. "I-" Whatever Naruto was going to say was left unsaid as his arm fell before it could reach her cheek. His eyes staring up unseeing.

"Darling," Zero Two called out softly, even as her tears started to spill down the side of her face. "Ne Darling, enough… please." The pink haired girl continued shaking his form lightly like she was afraid even doing so would cause him to shatter like glass. "DARLING!" She wailed as the reality started to set in.

Outside the genjutsu Zero Two hadn't moved from where she had landed since she was placed in Kakashi's genjutsu with the exception of the loosely held lance in her hand and the tears streaming down her face. Kakashi stood a few feet away silently with a small sense of guilt as she heard the girl repeatedly say darling with mounting despair. By the very nature of the genjutsu Kakashi could guess what the girl must be seeing.

"Guess we'll have to work on her breaking out of genjutsu if she makes the team." Kakashi said to himself starting towards the girl in order to knock her out.

Tsunade and Jiraiya had been witnessed to everything that had happened so far, having moved as Team 7's battle did. Currently two of the legendary Sannin were standing on a tree branch that offered a clear view of things. When Jiraiya saw Kakashi get ready to cast a genjutsu the Sannin had been ready to jump in and stop the Jōnin only to stop a second later when it became evident that he had been too late.

"Shit."

At the single word Tsunade looked over at Jiraiya curiously. It was hardly strange to hear the man curse, but she had never heard it so definitively. With that one-word Jiraiya made it sound like it was the end of the world.

"We should hit the deck." Jiraiya advised, not even waiting for Tsunade's response as he jumped out of the tree and landed on the ground.

Tsunade landed next to Jiraiya a moment later still looking at the white-haired shinobi strangely. "What's gotten in-" Tsunade was cut off as something that she could only described as an explosion went off accompanied by a roar filled with anguish and unbridled fury. Wind rushed passed the Hokage as she stared with wide open eyes, her twin tails waving through the air furiously behind her, at the cause.

Zero Two roared out to the heavens, tendrils of chakra surging out from her body, as she stood at the eye of gale force winds that caused nearby trees to shake violently. Kakashi found himself being forcibly pushed back, as he held his arms in a futile effort to protect his face from the winds, staring at the pink haired girl. From what Kakashi could make out Zero Two's nails looked more like claws and the fangs that he noticed she possessed looked longer and sharper than they did before. Her pupils were a bright red while her horns were rapidly flashing just as brightly. If Kakashi didn't know any better he would have thought that Zero Two was a Jinchuuriki; as the only he could compare this to was when he's seen Naruto use the Kyuubi's chakra.

The only difference was that there wasn't an oppressing and malevolent presence in the air. Anguish, and unbridled fury was conveyed in Zero Two's cry.

Ignoring all of that this was still more chakra then he had seen most normal people release.

Naruto slammed his rasengan into the copy of Kakashi that he was fighting. A couple of minutes ago Sakura had shown up and working together the two managed to land a decisive blow on Kakashi. Before Naruto and Sakura could even begin to consider forming a plan to take on the real Kakashi they heard a monstrous roar pierce the air. While Sakura was trying to figure out what was responsible for such a pain filled cry Naruto knew instantly who had made it. Naruto didn't even think about it and just took off, not heading Sakura's call, reacting on instinct driving himself forward pushing chakra through his body to make him go faster. As he ran through the woods there was only one thought in his mind.

' _Zero Two!'_

* * *

"Zero Two!" Kakashi shouted to the pink haired girl, trying to snap her out of the state that she was in. Unfortunately, all that he did was give the enraged girl a target.

The oni snapped her head toward Kakashi, her red eyes glaring at the man as she let out a vicious snarl. In a split second the loose hold that Zero Two had on her spear became firm its tip glowing brighter then ever before. With a mighty roar Zero Two thrust her spear at Kakashi unleashing all the chakra that it contained.

Kakashi's eyes widened when he saw how brightly the spear was shining and when she unleashed the blast he was almost blinded once more. Even blind though Kakashi had enough sense to perform a kawarimi. Reappearing Kakashi looked back at where he stood previously unlike before the log he replaced himself with wasn't just in rubbles it was completely gone. Then his eyes trained to a long trench that dug into the earth, and several trees that had their trunks completely torn through; Kakashi could hear a mounting number of trees falling as they hit the ground and the shaking of the earth beneath his feet.

His survival instincts once more screaming at him Kakashi performed another kawarimi just as Zero Two, having appeared above Kakashi, unleashed another blast down at him. Zero Two landed a second later in the crater that was formed from her attack letting out a snarl when the dust settled and there was no sign of Kakashi's remains. Yet before Zero Two could hunt down the Jōnin again she felt a pair of arms wrap themselves around her as she was pulled into a strong embrace from behind. The young woman thrashed around trying to break free of the hold, swinging her spear back at the person trying to hit them. The oni felt herself being further enraged at whoever was stopping her from tracking down Kakashi and holding her so closely. There was only one person who'd she let hold her and he was, was… because of Kakashi.

With her blood boiling Zero Two started to channel chakra into her spear not caring about what would happen to her if she unleashed an explosion with her in its radius. Just as she was about to release the discharge for her attack a voice spoke gently into her ear that caused her to freeze completely. "Zero Two."

The red haze that Zero Two had been under dissipated almost instantly at that person's voice, Naruto's voice, her Darling's voice. "D-Darling?" Zero Two asked, her voice cracking as she choked back a sob, and her eyes watered as she felt like her legs would give out under her at any second. Her shaking arms rose coming to rest on top of Naruto's her fingers slowly tracing over his arms then his fingers before interlocking them with her own. "I-I thought you were…" The girl trailed off unable to bring herself to finish.

"Shh," Naruto said comfortingly. "I'm ok, I'm right here."

Zero Two spun around and threw her arms around Naruto's neck, pulling herself as close as physically possible, afraid that he might disappear at any second. For a moment the two just stood in each other's arms; Naruto trying comfort her while Zero Two tried to reassure herself that he was indeed still alive.

Sakura had arrived a couple of seconds after Naruto, standing at the edge of the crater, looking down at them feeling like she was intruding by even being there. From where she was standing Sakura thought she could see Zero Two crying as Naruto whispered gently into her ear. But as much as Sakura wanted to give them some time alone they were still in the middle of something. Clearing her throat loudly Sakura drew the two's attention. "Alright you two," Sakura started, a light chastising tone to her voice. "In case you've forgotten we still need to get the bells from Kakashi-sensei." She reminded them.

Zero Two was quick to remove the tears from her eyes, Naruto checking really quick to see if she was really okay, before the two jumped out of the crater to land beside Sakura. Now that she had calmed down Zero Two was more determined then ever to find Kakashi, if for no other reason then to beat him to a bloody pulp for making her think her Darling had died in her arms. Honestly, she wanted to do more to the man but she figured she had to show some restraint.

"Okay are we ready to finish this?" Naruto asked the two pink haired girls.

Sakura adjusted her gloves with a smirk on her face. "Ready," Sakura answered gamely.

Zero Two gave Naruto her own confident smirk, tightening her hold on her spear and a predatory look in her eyes. "I'm ready if you are Darling." The oni replied.

With a fox like grin directed at Zero Two and Sakura the trio took off going after Kakashi once more.

Kakashi had stayed in his hiding spot long enough to see Naruto calm Zero Two down, but once it became evident that the three teens would soon be going after him once more he moved. After several minutes, something which surprised the Jōnin and made him suspicious, Kakashi sensed the three of them closing in on him, no doubt thanks once more to Zero Two's tracking abilities. Kakashi was forced to come to a stop when Zero Two's spear suddenly impaled the ground right in front of him just as he heard Naruto and the girls land behind him.

"Well then," Kakashi started reaching for his headband as the three behind him tensed visibly, "I think it has been long enough." He finished turning to face them and revealing his sharingan once more. Though none of them could see it, it was clear that Kakashi was smirking at the three from beneath his mask. "It probably wasn't such a good idea to throw something that offered you such a clear advantage." The Jōnin claimed reaching for Zero Two's spear. Yet when he tried to pull it out of the ground he was shocked to discover how heavy it was as it wouldn't even budge when he tried to lift it. _'What the?'_ Kakashi thought, staring at the spear, summoning forth his chakra to boost his strength only to end with about the same results. _'How the hell does Zero Two manage to swing this thing around so easily?!'_ He wondered incredulously coming to the decision that wielding the weapon was a lost cause.

"Doton: Doryūheki." Kakashi heard Zero Two cry out turning his attention back to them just in time to see the earth wall rise up.

' _She knows Doton jutsu too?'_ Kakashi questioned silently a little surprised by the revelation. Kakashi didn't have much time to consider this knew facet when he noticed cracks starting to spread throughout the earth wall. _'Shit'_ He cursed having a fair idea as to the cause as he went through hand seals in a blur. " _Doton_ : Doryūheki!" The grey haired Jōnin finished slamming his hands onto the ground and summoning his own earth wall protection, with the addition of the faces of three bulldogs. The wall of earth rose just as the other one was destroyed, the rocks from the destroyed wall hurtling across the ground hitting Kakashi's jutsu. Kakashi could see the earth wall shake minutely, dust from the destroyed rocks slipping from the edges of the wall, and hear the loud banging as each stone hit the wall.

Zero Two's voice suddenly came from above Kakashi causing him to jerk his head back to see the girl high above him, one hand close to her mouth. "Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu!" From her mouth the pinkette unleashed a volley of small fireballs at Kakashi that roared down at him.

With his arms up protectively Kakashi jumped away; even as he felt the fireballs soar past him singeing his clothing. The Jōnin reached into his pouch with the intention to throw some shuriken only to be attacked by Naruto before he could. With the use of his sharingan, Kakashi was able to block or deflect all of Naruto's punches and kicks. Kakashi was overpowering Naruto until Zero Two joined the blonde shinobi against Kakashi fighting seamlessly with him. Kakashi could tell that Zero Two was no Taijutsu expert, more than likely relying heavily on her spear during close quarter combat, but managed to at least be proficient at it. But whatever weak points there were in her fighting style Naruto was covering for her and vice versa.

Kakashi was so focused on the two teens in front of him that he almost missed Sakura coming up behind him. Spinning around on his heel Kakashi intended to grab Sakura's arm before throwing her at either Naruto or Zero Two, yet before he could grab her she vanished in a cloud of smoke. For just a second Kakashi just stared at where Sakura stood as he realized what happened. _'A Kage Bunshin.'_ Kakashi realized, guessing that Naruto had one of his clones henge into Sakura in order to catch him off guard.

That one second proved to be costly as both Naruto and Zero Two slammed into Kakashi. Despite begin caught by surprise Kakashi easily dislodged himself from the two and was about to retaliate when Sakura appeared before him standing between Naruto and Zero Two. While his eyes were trained on her they quickly went to the spear that she was holding behind her, a spear that Zero Two quickly grabbed a hold of, to the book that he easily recognized that Zero Two threw back at the spear. Kakashi's eyes widened in absolute horror when he saw, in impossibly slow motion because of his sharingan, the book head straight for the spear's blade seeing it shine brightly and knowing what was going to happen.

What followed was a loud explosion and a blinding flash of light.

After a couple of seconds with the light having died down Kakashi distantly thought he could hear the three teens talking excitedly, but just couldn't bring himself to focus on them at the moment. He just stared blankly ahead not even seeing a trace of the ash that represented the last remnants of Jiraiya's destroyed masterpiece.

"Oi Ero-sensei~" Zero Two said in a sing-song as she held Icha Icha Tactics in front of him, waving the book in front of him, with an amused smirk on her face.

Kakashi's gaze fixated on the book, hope and light returning to his eyes as he saw that the book was not in fact destroyed. The Jōnin reached out for the book only to have it cruelly, at least he thought so, taken away at the last second. Kakashi could almost weep as he pitifully grasped out for the book that was kept just out of his reach. "I-I thought…"

"A decoy." Zero Two said as she found herself nearly bursting out in laughter, her cheeks slightly puffed out and a single fang visible over her lips, but managed not to. "Why are you so surprised?" She questioned the man. "I wasn't ever going to destroy it. I did say that it might provide some inspiration for me and Darling." She pointed out as she sent Naruto a sultry look that caused the shinobi to flush brightly.

One look and so many thoughts started to fill Naruto's head. So many delicious and tempting thoughts.

Seeing that the book was fine, and still very much out of his reach, Kakashi let out a sigh as lowered his hitai-ate to cover his sharingan seeing Naruto with the trio of bells.

Clapping sounded throughout catching all their attention turning to see Tsunade approaching them with Jiraiya beside her. "Good work you three. Naruto, Sakura, you two have come a long way." Tsunade congratulated them, her gaze turning to each of them and lingering on Zero Two. "Zero Two, you have more than proven how skilled you are." The Hokage said appraisingly. Staring at the girl Tsunade could see the confident smirk on her face as she stared back expectantly, nearly pressing herself against Naruto from how close she was standing. While she had been impressed by Zero Two's performance during the evaluation there was still so much that Tsunade didn't know about the girl that gave her pause. Hopefully the conversation she would be having with Jiraiya would help her get a better understanding of Zero Two. "While there are few particulars that still need to be taken care of as of now you can consider an official member of Team 7." Tsunade decided.

Anyone one who met Zero Two, anyone who knew her for more than a minute, the first thing that they realized about her was that she nearly exuded self-confidence that bordered on arrogant. Yet she was still relieved and ecstatic to know that she would be on the same team as her Darling. "Did you hear that Darling?" Zero asked with a bright smile on her face. "We're officially partners!" She declared happily.

Naruto was just as happy as Zero Two, not quite having the heart to tell her that they were part of a team so they were technically teammates, laughing out loud when the girl pulled him into a hug. "We should celebrate." Naruto suggested, getting an enthusiastic sound of agreement from the girl in his arms.

As the members of Team 7 made plans on how they should celebrate Tsunade directed a pointed look at Jiraiya, conveying without words that they would be returning to her office in order to have their talk.

* * *

 **AN: When I started writing this it came out much shorter then I would have liked at about 3k words now it's at 10k and longer then I intended. This obviously takes place in the Narutoverse, and while I also have the scraps of a fic planned that takes in the Darling in the Franxx world, I wanted to get this one out since there is only one fic, out of three, that happens there. Not to mention my first fic that actually takes place during Shippuden. While there were parts that I wasn't quite happy with I hope this is well received.**

 **Until next time.**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: And I'm back. I know it has been a while and for those reading my other stories even longer. Problem is that even if I have a chapter for most of my works started, I can't get into the of writing more then a few words for any of them and worst of all this is usually for days at a time. The only thing I can do is promise everyone that I haven't given up on any of my fanfics and updates are coming… eventually. Right now, I am focusing on getting Crimson Knightmare updated while working on the others along the way.**

 **Okay I've put this off long enough, seriously I had this done for a couple of weeks and have just been to lazy to post, so lets get on with it.**

 **Disclaimer I do NOT own Naruto or Darling in the Franxx**

* * *

Chapter 2

"Talking"  
 _'Thinking'  
_ **(Author's Notes)**

Returning to her office Tsunade grabbed a bottle of saki out from her desk and poured a cup for herself and Jiraiya. "Alright," Tsunade began, sitting down in her chair. "Start talking Jiraiya." The woman commanded. Jiraiya completely ignored the cup that Tsunade set out for him and instead reached out for the bottle that she had left on her desk and took a large swig, Tsunade's eyebrow twitching as she saw him do this, before he set it back down with a heavy thud. Letting out a heavy sigh Jiraiya made his way toward the window that overlooked the village, slumping against the wall. "Well." Tsunade pressed after a minute of silence.

Jiraiya turned his gaze from the village to look at Tsunade. "What you need to know is that, that girl is a parasite." Jiraiya told her.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow at the comment. "I know that the girl seems a little clingy—" Jiraiya snorted drawing another twitch of the eyebrow from Tsunade "—when around Naruto, but I don't think it's bad enough to call her a parasite." Tsunade replied honestly. Tsunade knew next to nothing about the girl, which was the whole point of this talk, but at least she knew that Zero Two was attached to Naruto. Which made Tsunade all the more interested in finding out all she could about the pink haired girl with horns.

"I mean she is a literal parasite." Jiraiya reiterated plainly. "Zero Two takes the chakra of others and use it to supplement her own."

"Ok," Tsunade got out slowly. "That's noteworthy, but she is hardly the first person with that kind of ability in the Elemental Nations." The busty Hokage pointed out; Konoha's own Aburame clan being a prime example. "How does her jutsu work?"

"That's as simple as it is complicated." Jiraiya muttered out with a sigh and thoughtful frown, considering how to best word it. "First off, it's not a jutsu - as far as I can tell at least - rather a natural ability that she possesses, that is always active, and that allows her to absorb chakra from everything around her. The amount that she naturally siphons from a person is negligible to the point even an academy student wouldn't be bothered by it."

Tsunade nodded her head in acknowledgement. If what Jiraiya was saying was true then neither she, Kakashi, or Sakura had noticed the drain during at any point earlier today. She didn't count Naruto because he would likely already be aware of what Zero Two could do and he would hardly notice a drain on his massive reserves that hardly affected an academy student. "Is that it?" Tsunade questioned hardly seeing what was so complicated.

Jiraiya snorted in amusement. "No that's just a passive ability that's most likely a byproduct of her power," The man stated before continuing. "Her real ability requires two things; one is physical contact and second is for her to ingest the blood of the person whose chakra she is consuming, initially anyway. After the first time she only needs physical contact to drain their chakra." Jiraiya explained.

Tsunade's brows furrowed in thought as she was getting a better understanding as to why Jiraiya called the girl a parasite, though the fact that she drank the blood of someone made her think the girl was more like the vampires of myth. "To what ends?" The blonde questioned. If Zero Two needed to have physical contact and to drink a person's blood then that would leave her, and who ever she was feeding/draining on, open to attack. Not to mention that if she drained a comrade then she would leave that person with little to no chakra. "If she has a natural ability to absorb chakra anyway then actively draining someone's chakra seems like too much of a hassle." Tsunade voiced out.

Jiraiya gave Tsunade a knowing smirk before answering. "Because otherwise Zero Two is only fighting with half of her full strength." Jiraiya explained.

Tsunade's eyes widened in shock. "You mean…?"

"That's right," The Toad Sennin confirmed at the surprise on Tsunade's face. "Even earlier when Zero Two was fighting against Kakashi her full power was sealed away, although she was close to it when she went berserk. Unsealed her power is closer to that of a Jōnin."

"That doesn't make any sense." Tsunade muttered out. "If she is so powerful then why have her power sealed at all? Or just unseal it whenever she is going into battle?" She questioned not seeing the logic in it.

"That's where things get further complicated." Jiraiya groused, drawing a slightly disbelieving look from Tsunade. "First off I'm not so sure that her power is sealed." Jiraiya admitted with a shrug of his shoulders. "At least I didn't find any sort of seal when I examined her."

Tsunade narrowed her eyes at Jiraiya, starring at him suspiciously. "Why does it feel like you were just taking advantage of the opportunity to be pervert." Tsunade accused knowing her teammate very well.

Jiraiya looked mildly offended, knowing fully well and proudly accepting his status as a super pervert, for all of a second before he quit pretending. "I can be professional you know." Jiraiya asserted with a huff. "Besides that, that girl doesn't really care about modesty or who sees her naked. Unless its Naruto, then she does whatever she can to make sure that his eyes are on her." The Sannin commented offhandedly then continued, as Tsunade briefly and silently worried about the corrupting influence that apparently surrounded Naruto. "Secondly, about a year and half ago did you hear anything about someone called the Partner Killer?"

Tsunade raised an eyebrow at Jiraiya going off on a complete tangent, but followed along anyway to see where he was going with this, she had an idea anyway. "I think I heard a few whispers of a rumor." Tsunade answered thoughtfully before shaking her head. "Honestly I didn't give it much credence. The rumors were rather vague and didn't seem to concern Konoha at all so I didn't really pay any attention to what few rumors I did hear about. Eventually they all just stopped and I didn't give it a second thought." Tsunade recounted to the best of her ability.

Jiraiya nodded his head as if that is what he expected. Honestly though it' kind of was, he was after all Konoha's spy master and managed its greatest spy network, there was hardly any intel that concerned the village that reached Tsunade's ears that he didn't come from him. "A year and a half ago someone suddenly appeared that would be willing to partner up with mercenaries and rouge ninja to complete missions. Thing is anyone who worked with her only ever lasted three missions before dying." Jiraiya told her.

"'Her'," Tsunade repeated. "So, the person you are talking about is Zero Two." She assumed.

"Yeah," Jiraiya validated with another nod not seeing the point of beating around the bush about it. "While Zero Two does drains a person's chakra when she makes physical contact with them that's not all." He stated running a hand through the back of his head. "As a part of his training I would have Naruto take go on missions on his own, nothing too difficult." The white-haired man assured. "Just something to test his skills and made sure he stayed sharp. After Zero Two joined us she would go with him on those missions, insisted on it. Thing was that some of her old partners had friends and well…"

"Those friends wanted revenge." Tsunade finished for the man.

Nodding his head, the Toad Sannin continued his tale. "They waited until they were sure I was gone before ambushing them, and to their credit Naruto and Zero Two more then held their own against them."

"Well obviously the ambush failed and they won." Tsunade pointed out. "So, what's the problem?"

"To make a long story short." The Toad Sannin uttered. "While Naruto and Zero Two might have one their fight it was only after Zero Two unleashed her full power, taking some of Naruto's blood and chakra. Afterwards the brat actually passed out, for a few hours actually; it was only then that Zero Two told me about her abilities."

Tsunade's lips thinned at the information; Jiraiya's words from earlier ringing in her ears. If the girl simply drained a person of their chakra, even if it was a considerable amount, it still shouldn't have been enough to render Naruto of all people unconscious. There had to be more to it than simply draining a person of their chakra.

Unaware of Tsunade's inner thoughts Jiraiya went on. "After that I thought it was a good idea to see just how much chakra Zero Two took for myself."

Tsunade held back what was on the tip if her tongue about Jiraiya's so called good ideas. "Well?" She prodded instead.

Jiraiya shifted a little uncomfortably before answering. "Honestly I thought she was going to kill me." The man confessed. "It only lasted for a second but it felt like she was going to drain me dry. I was at a 100% and it still felt like a fresh out of the academy Gennin could have knocked me on my ass."

"So, what is it?" The Senju wondered. "Something to do with her bloodline?" Tsunade guessed.

"While I may be an expert on women." Jiraiya claimed, as Tsunade suddenly found herself struggling internally on whether she'd rather burst out laughing or smash Jiraiya's face in. "This is more along your forte. The thing is that I think it's more than just a simple bloodline."

That once more peeked Tsunade interest. "What do you mean?" The Hokage inquired.

"I told you that she absorbs chakra from the area around her." Jiraiya reminded her needlessly. "And, well, that pigment around her eyes isn't exactly eyeshadow."

For a second Tsunade's eyebrows furrowed in thought as she considered what Jiraiya was implying before they widened in realization. "Senjutsu." The female Kage murmured.

"Got it in one." Jiraiya verified surely. "I even had Fukasaku confirm it for me just to be sure." The man revealed. "Which might explain the horns on her head." He theorized as an afterthought, well aware of the physical changes a person could suffer through from using senjutsu.

Tsunade nodded her head absently. While she herself was incapable of using the technique, she was well versed with it since her grandfather, the First Hokage Hashirama Senju, and Jiraiya were both practitioners of the art and she agreed that it did offer and explanation for Zero Two's appearance. "Even if she can use senjutsu that doesn't explain how she's capable of gathering natural energy while moving around or how she is immune to the dangers of senjutsu." Tsunade pointed out.

Jiraiya winced at that statement. "You got me there." He acknowledged. "Pa was also surprised, but when we asked Zero Two didn't know. She didn't even know what senjutsu was when we asked."

Resting her hands on her folded hands Tsunade let out a light sigh. "I should have figured that anyone involved with the two of you would end up causing me trouble." The blonde muttered.

"Hey!" Jiraiya protested loudly.

Tsunade waved off Jiraiya's indignation. "Alright, is there anything else?"

"Well…" Jiraiya started drawing a groan from the blonde woman.

* * *

… _Thud…_

… _Thud…_

… _Thud…_

Naruto let out a groan as the pounding coming from his front door roused him from his sleep. The blonde tried to ignore the noise and just snuggle closer to the warm body that was pressed up against his own. Unfortunately, the racket didn't just manage to wake him up.

Looking down Naruto spotted a head of pink hair stirring, their naked breasts pressing against his chest, arms wrapped around him while their legs entwined his, letting out a cute whine even as they tried to snuggle deeper into his chest. "Daaaarling~ It's too early." Zero Two protested. "Make them go away." She pleaded as she looked up at him with her best puppy dog eyes. Resistance was futile.

"Someone will have to let go so that I can get up." Naruto pointed out.

Zero Two stared at Naruto silently with a frown on her face as she seriously considered her options. "Maybe they'll go away." She said hopefully after a minute, laying her head back on Naruto's chest, unwilling to move from her position just yet. Smiling beautifully Zero Two listened to the beat of Naruto's heart; the sound almost enough to lull her back to sleep. Unfortunately, and despite Zero Two's hopes, the person at her Darling's front door didn't seem to have any attention of leaving.

 _Thud…thud…thud_

"Naruto!" Sakura's voice shouted through the door. "Wake up already!" The other pinkette demanded loudly. "Tsunade-shisho sent me to get you!" She informed him as the knocking on the door grew louder and more insistent.

Naruto sighed turning his attention away from the direction that Sakura's voice was coming from back to Zero Two. "If I don't answer Sakura's just going to break the door down." The blonde shinobi pointed out.

Zero Two let out a huff. "Fine," She grumbled, rolling off of Naruto. While she was upset at being disturbed Zero Two couldn't deny that she would likely do the same thing if she was the one standing on the other side of the door. Still didn't mean that she had to like it.

Rising out of bed Naruto soon enough opened the door of his apartment for Sakura. "Morning, Sakura." Naruto greeted his teammate cheerfully enough.

While she had been annoyed at Naruto for taking so long to answer his door Sakura was able to set it aside once he did. Having her friend home after years of him being gone helping to better her mood. "Well it's about time." Sakura muttered though with a smile on her face, drawing a sheepish smile from Naruto in return. "Come on Tsunade-shisho wants to meet you and Zero Two at the hospital." She told him.

"What for?" Zero Two questioned, the sound of her voice causing Sakura to look over Naruto's shoulder to find the girl leaning against the wall outside of the blonde's bedroom wearing a white t-shirt with her arms crossed under her breasts. A shirt that had to belong to Naruto from how big it fit the oni.

Sakura blinked a couple of times in bewilderment. "What are you doing here?" Sakura asked, "Why are you naked!?"

Zero Two arched an eyebrow. "I live here?" She voiced slowly as if should have been obvious before proceeding to answer Sakura's second question. "And I'm not naked I have a shirt on." Zero Two stated emphasizing her point by pulling on the shirt little, her breasts becoming a little more pronounced as a result; which Sakura noticed and she was sure that Naruto had noticed as well.

Considering the two nubs that were clearly visible though Sakura was more than sure that Zero Two wasn't wearing a bra underneath. Sakura would have questioned Zero Two whether or not she had panties on, but was worried to what lengths the girl would go to prove her either right or wrong. Instead she decided to focus on the other piece of information that she just learned about. "You're living here?" She pondered dubiously before turning to Naruto. "She's living here." Sakura repeated pointing towards Zero Two.

"Well yeah," Naruto answered, rubbing the back of his head. "Zero Two is new to Konoha, so she doesn't have her own place, and we've shared a tent and rooms all the time on my training trip." He claimed. After the first couple of nights where Zero Two would sneak out of her room or tent and into Naruto's they stopped bothering with getting an extra room or setting up an extra tent. Jiraiya didn't exactly discourage Zero Two's actions, if anything he encouraged it, and instead just started giggling perversely once he found out what she was doing.

Sakura facepalmed as she let out a heavy sigh. She really wanted to admonish the pair for living together without any sort of supervision; she couldn't even begin to imagine what the pair got up to behind closed doors, and it left Sakura blushing a deep shade of red. At any other point Sakura might have actually done it, but she restrained herself because while she had known Naruto for a while, she didn't know Zero Two at all. Not to say Sakura hadn't already formed some opinions of the other pink haired girl, just that if she had learned anything from her time around Naruto it was that she should not form opinions of people so quickly. Besides that, Tsunade was currently waiting for them so Sakura really couldn't waste time chastising the pair right then and there. "Well come on. We shouldn't keep Lady Tsunade waiting." Sakura said turning away from the two, with her eyes closed, and walked back out the door.

Blinking a couple of times Zero Two stared after "You never said why the old lady wanted to see us." Zero Two pointed out, not to mention that she and Naruto still needed to get dressed.

* * *

"Stop squirming." Tsunade instructed, as she did her best to keep Zero Two from fidgeting.

Zero Two looked away from the blonde woman with a pout, as she re-buttoned her top. Dressed in her red uniform styled clothing Zero Two sat on the edge of a bed within the hospital with Tsunade sitting in front of her. From the moment that Naruto and she had arrived Tsunade had separated her from her Darling for the sake of performing some exams, and Zero Two had been feeling uneasy since then. Part of the reason she knew was because she was in a hospital to begin with, but mostly it was because she was separated from her Darling in such a place. If he was just beside her Zero Two was sure that she'd be fine. "Is this really necessary?" Zero Two questioned.

Tsunade hummed uncommittedly for a second before answering. "If you are going to be a kunoichi then you need to be given a physical before being cleared for duty." The Hokage told her seriously. "This is standard procedure. Sakura is giving Naruto one now that he will officially back on active duty." Tsunade continued.

Zero Two twitched at that tidbit of information, flames bursting into existence all around her, her face shadowed over as her eyes flashed a burning red. Only a few seconds ago she had been in her underwear. If Sakura was giving her Darling a physical that meant…

 _Zero Two's Imagination_

" _Aright, Naruto." Sakura purred, running her hand sensually over Naruto's bare chest. "I need you to get rid of your boxers so we can… continue the 'exam.'" The medic said, a finger trailing slowly around the top edge of his boxers._

" _Sakura," Naruto started uneasily, trying to back away from the girl to put some space between each other, only for Sakura to follow him until he eventually hit bed's edge and fell back on it with Sakura then landing on top of him. "Don't. I won't betray Zero Two." The shinobi declared defiantly with fire in his eyes._

 _Sakura gave Naruto a sultry smile in return. "She never has to know." She finished in a whisper sliding her hand beneath the band of Naruto's boxers as she closed in on her prize._

 _End of Zero Two's Imagination_

' _That BITCH!'_ Zero Two roared in her mind, shooting up from the bed and started stomping her way for the door with the intent of hunting down the other pink haired girl and tearing her apart for daring to touch her Darling.

At least that's what she would have done if she hadn't been stopped.

"Where do you think you're going?" Tsunade questioned, her hand having snapped up to grab a hold of Zero Two's arm. "We're not done with your physical yet."

"But I have to get Darling away from that hussy!" Zero Two declared trying to pull her hand free.

"Hussy?" Tsunade echoed with a raised eyebrow and a small amused smile on her face. While the insult toward her apprentice wasn't appreciated the older woman still found some amusement in Zero Two's sudden stroke of jealousy. But as amusing it might be to watch Zero Two confront Sakura for whatever reason the girl imagined, to which Tsunade was sure Sakura would retaliate to, they were still in a hospital and she was not about to allow Zero Two to cause a ruckus and disturb all the other patients. "Calm down." Tsunade ordered, tugging on the girl's arm and forcing her to sit back down on the bed. "I don't know what's going through your head, but Sakura is a medical professional there is no way that anything that's going through your head is actually happening."

"It better not." Zero Two muttered darkly.

"Okay, next I'm going to need to take a sample of your blood." Tsunade listed, grabbing a syringe from a nearby table, not at all missing how Zero Two stiffened at the declaration. "What is it?" She questioned curiously.

"I hate needles." Zero Two murmured turning her head away.

"Well you and Naruto have that in common." The Senju commented, once more taking a hold of Zero Two's arm.

Zero Two didn't offer a reply as she did her best not to tear her hand away from the woman's grasp, yet the feeling of the needle piercing her skin caused Zero Two to react instinctively. With nails as sharp as claws, and with an almost wild look in her eyes, Zero Two thrust her arm at Tsunade with the intention of embedding those claws into the blonde woman's face.

Tsunade didn't bat an eye even with Zero Two's sharp nails only a hair's breadth from her eyes. The moment that Zero Two had moved Tsunade had already snapped her hand up taking a firm hold of the younger girl's wrist stopping her.

For the next couple of seconds Zero Two tried to force her hand forward, yet being securely held in place due to Tsunade's superior strength, before she finally came back to her senses. Relaxing her arm Tsunade let go allowing Zero Two to retract it as she looked away remorsefully, holding her arm close to her.

"What was that?" Tsunade inquired.

"I hate needles." Zero Two reiterated without making eye contact.'

Tsunade stared at the girl in contemplative silence before letting out a sigh. "Unfortunately, this is required so you'll just have to bear with it." The Hokage told her simply; healing the puncture wound that Zero Two had on her arm from the needle being carelessly and forcibly removed when the oni attacked her, before retrieving another syringe.

Zero Two winced but held her recently healed arm out to Tsunade, even as the other clenched the sheets of the bed tightly within her hand.

A few minutes later Tsunade watched through one of the hospitals many windows as Sakura, Naruto, and Zero Two walked away, the oni making sure to stay between the two old teammates. Once the physicals for Naruto and Zero Two had been finished Tsunade had dismissed the trio. Seeing the playful smile on Zero Two's face as she looked at Naruto, Tsunade couldn't help but note the contrast between now and before. The instinctive way that Zero Two reacted to the needle, the look in her eyes, all told Tsunade that whatever past experience Zero Two had with hospitals – or the like – must have been traumatic for the pink haired girl. Jiraiya hadn't mentioned anything of the sort when they had talked last night, but the Toad Sannin had admitted to not knowing anything about the girl's past; a subject that Zero Two remained rather tight lipped about. Tsunade understood that everyone was entitled to their secrets, especially about their pasts, that didn't mean it was any less concerning.

Tsunade looked down at the two phials of Zero Two's blood that she had drawn from the girl. After talking with Jiraiya yesterday Tsunade decided that this would be good way to learn more about the girl. Which was why she decided to give Zero Two's physical exam herself.

' _I better start running some tests.'_ Tsunade decided turning away from the window.

* * *

"Now what should we do?" Naruto asked aloud to his two companions, walking with his hands behind his head.

"It's a little early, but you know what we should do." Sakura started, an excited smile on her face, causing Zero Two and Naruto to look at her curiously. "We should round up the others and all have lunch together." She suggested. "I think Lee and his team are out on a mission right now, but everybody else should be in the village."

Naruto grinned brightly at the idea. "Yeah, that sounds great." He agreed before turning his attention to Zero Two. "What do you think Zero Two?" He asked her.

"That's fine." Zero Two answered rather aloofly. If she was being honest Zero Two wasn't all that interested in meeting her Darling's friends, but if it was something that he wanted to do then she wouldn't oppose him.

"Alright," Sakura continued. "I'll go start looking for the others and letting them know. We can meet up at Yakiniku Q later, okay?" Sakura inquired as she made her way to split up from the two.

"Well I'd prefer ramen." Naruto mumbled." But sure." He settled.

Sakura rolled her eyes at Naruto's comment. "See you later." Sakura said leaving the pair on their own.

With their plans for lunch set Naruto decided to show Zero Two around Konoha before they met with the others.

* * *

"So, what's up Forehead? Why did you want all of us to eat lunch together all of a sudden?" One Ino Yamanaka asked her best friend as she and the other members of the Rookie 9 sat around a table of Yakiniku Q after Sakura had gathered them all.

"When can we eat!?" Choji Akamichi cried feeling like he was being tortured being so close to food yet not being able to eat any of it.

"It's a surprise, just be a little patient." Sakura told them both.

"Troublesome." Shikamaru muttered under his breath. It didn't take him long to figure out why Sakura wanted them all to eat together, being rather insistent. It wasn't uncommon for them all to go out once in a while, but it was usually Ino who insisted on these group gatherings.

Glancing to the other side of the table Shikamaru saw the members of Team Kurenai; Kiba Inuzuka and Akamaru, with the Nin-ken transformed into Kiba so that the large dog could enter the establishment, Hinata Hyuuga, and Shino Aburame. Of the remaining team Shikamaru figured that only Shino could possibly guess why they were there. Though it was unlikely that the ever-silent Shino would reveal it.

"What is?" A female voice asked from the seat next to him.

"Hm?" Shikamaru hummed as he looked at the person who asked him.

Temari no Sabaku was from Sunagakure no Sato and was acting as their ambassador for the upcoming Chunnin Exams. Shikamaru was assigned to be her escort while in the village along with going over all the details that needed discussing for the exam, as troublesome as it was.

"What is so troublesome this time?" Temari clarified with a smirk on her face, having heard what the Nara had said under his breath.

Shikamaru let out a sigh before resting his head in the palm of his hand. "You'll see." He answered vaguely, drawing a raised eyebrow from Temari.

They didn't have to wait long before the last members of their party joined them, Sakura having kept an eye out for them.

"Hey guys." Naruto was the first to greet everyone, drawing looks of surprise from nearly everyone there.

"NARUTO!"

With his ears ringing Naruto gave everyone one of his fox like grins proving beyond a reasonable doubt that it was really him. For the next several minutes Naruto had to field questions from all of his friends who wanted to know how he had been in the nearly 3 years that he had been away and when he had gotten back.

' _Naruto-kun,_ ' Hinata thought silently, with a small smile on her face while blushing red as her heart started racing, out of everyone there, besides Shino, the Hyuuga Heiress was the quietest person among the group welcoming Naruto even though she wanted to talk with him more than just about anyone there. Ever since they had been children Hinata had been inspired by the blonde, that admiration turning into a crush before finally turning to love. Her crippling shyness had kept her from getting as close to him as she would have liked, yet despite that they had become friends and – she hoped – someone that Naruto could rely on. While Naruto had been gone Hinata wished and tried to grow in both strength and confidence so that when Naruto finally did return, she could talk with him, fight beside him, and finally really notice her. Unfortunately, now that he was back' everything she had done to grow more confident seemed to go out the window and she returned to that shy stuttering 12-year-old girl who couldn't say one word to her crush.

Despite that Hinata couldn't deny the immense happiness that was swelling within her at seeing Naruto once more.

It was only after Naruto had assuaged all their questions that they finally noticed of the other pink haired girl that was with him. A couple of them couldn't help but stare between Sakura and the new girl noticing the similarities. Those who didn't found themselves staring at Zero Two's horns. What was most prominent for Hinata was how close the girl was standing to Naruto and how at ease the shinobi was with it. Like it was just something he had long since gotten used to.

"Whoa, Sakura you didn't tell me you had a twin!" Ino exclaimed as she circled Zero Two to take in everything about her. "Except that her forehead is actually a normal size." She added as an afterthought.

Sakura growled at her female best friend, eyes turning white in anger. "What was that, Ino-pig?" Sakura questioned threateningly.

"She does look a lot like Sakura." Choji offered up.

"Yeah," Kiba agreed before continuing. "But we've known Sakura since forever so we know that she doesn't have a sister." He commented as his nose twitched a little. "Besides that, her scent isn't anything like Sakura's." The Inuzuka added in.

Ino turned to Kiba with a frown on her face. "What the hell Kiba, what's wrong with you?! You don't go around smelling people, especially a girl that you just met and doesn't know you!" The blonde kunoichi chastised the Inuzuka angrily.

Kiba flinched a little away from the angry blonde. "Alright, alright I'm sorry, jeez." He apologized warily more worried what Ino might do to him then the new girl.

"Don't worry about it kibble." Zero Two waved off his apology.

"The names Kiba." The Inuzuka retorted with a small growl.

"Then maybe you shouldn't eat it." Zero Two continued in a dismissive tone.

Shino looked over at his teammate and stared at him deadpanned, somehow managing to give him the look even with his entire face covered. "Again?" He asked blandly.

Kiba's face flushed darkly with a panicked look. "Akamaru won't eat any of his food unless I do first." The brunette argued heatedly before snapping his head toward Zero Two with wide open eyes. "Wait, how did you…?" He tried to ask.

In response Zero Two tapped her nose with a knowing smile as Kiba's eyes widened in realization. Kiba of course wasn't the only person there who realized what Zero Two was implying.

Zero Two observed her Darling's friends taking them all in as they talked amongst themselves for a moment. They were just as Naruto had described them to her, they were older and their style of clothing had changed, but she was still able to recognize them. Well most of them, she didn't recognize the blonde girl dressed in a black kimono with her hair pulled into four pigtails. But even as focused as Zero Two was in observing all of them she couldn't ignore the feeling of someone staring at her intently. It was hardly a challenge to discover who it was.

Zero Two's cyan eyes meet a pair of steeled lavender.

"Anyway," Sakura spoke up. "This is Zero Two." She introduced her fellow pinkette handling the introductions before an uncomfortable look crossed her face which peeked the others' interest. "She's… the new member of Team 7." Sakura revealed uneasily. Knowing that Zero Two was now a member of Team 7 meant that she was replacing Sasuke on the team which left Sakura feeling perturbed. An irrational part of her mind couldn't help but point out again how much she and Zero Two looked alike and that the other girl was also replacing her, after a fashion.

What Sakura had left unsaid, at least the first part, and yet was understood by everyone there caused them all to stare at Zero Two with far more scrutinizing looks. Despite whatever could be said about Sasuke, about everything that he must have done over the last two and a half years, he was one of them once. For someone to suddenly replace him was no small thing for various reasons.

Zero Two hardly payed any attention to the looks that the others were giving her focused as she still was on the blue one.

Naruto though thought that it would be best if they changed topics, quickly. "Are we going to eat or what?" Naruto asked out loud taking a seat, causing Choji's mind to immediately switch gears and earning a cheer from the Akimichi, his eyes cutting over to Kiba. "Though I guess you're already full huh Kiba?" The blonde shinobi questioned teasingly.

A vein popped on Kiba's forehead. "What was that!" Kiba growled at Naruto.

With Choji hyped upped on food, Ino attempting, as futile as it might be, to curb Choji's exuberance while ordering food, while the others are doing their best to keep Kiba from jumping the table at him, Naruto felt that he had effectively diverted everyone's attention from their previous train of thought. The blonde shinobi gave Kiba a wide fox like grin, further taunting and riling the Inuzuka, as he went to say something more and instead ended up getting the air knocked out of him as something, or rather someone, sat themselves on his lap. Even as bewildered as he was by the sudden turn of events Naruto still instinctively wrapped his arms around the person's waist.

At that point Naruto needn't have bothered distracting everyone earlier since they were all completely focused on the scene before them. If there ever was an example of deafening silence that was it as everyone gawked at the pair with looks of disbelief and bewilderment trying to make sense of what their eyes were clearly telling them. The only exception, besides Sakura who had developed a small resistance after what she saw yesterday and more aware of Naruto's and Zero Two's relationship, was Hinata who if she had been anybody else would have burst into flames fueled by rage. Yet she somehow suddenly managed the stoic façade that her family was known for.

"Finally," Zero Two declared completely ignoring – again – the looks that she was receiving. "I was getting hungry." The pink haired girl continued her eyes were trained on the meat that was being cooked, a hungry look in them as she licked her lips. With her tongue sticking up at the side of her mouth the pink haired girl turned her right hand over to reveal a storage seal on her wrist, which she proceeded to unseal a container of honey from. The safest place possible for her golden ambrosia while keeping it close at all times. "Someone decided to pull us out of bed before we could even have breakfast." She finished glancing over at Sakura with a sly little smile on her face.

Sakura's cheeks tinted pink at the reminder of that morning before she shook it off and let out a slight huff. "Can you please get off of Naruto's lap and take a normal seat?" Sakura pleaded with the other pinkette.

Zero Two tilted her head to the side. "But I always sit here during meals." She said obviously before looking over her shoulder at Naruto. "Right Darling?" She asked him sweetly.

Naruto didn't have to look around to know that all eyes were trained on him, as he could feel their gazes boring into him. As boisterous and willful as he was there were times that Naruto still found himself feeling embarrassed and this qualified as one of those times as he felt his cheeks reddening, even if just a little. "Uh, right." Naruto answered removing one of his hands from around Zero Two's waist in order to scratch the back of his head with a sheepish smile on his face.

Beaming at his reply Zero Two turned her attention to the food that Choji had started to cook; the temptation to dump dollops of honey on it all almost overwhelming. But if the food was going to covered in _her_ honey then Zero Two was going to be the one to eat it. Well she might be willing to share with her Darling, but no one else.

"WHAT?!"

"NO FUCKING WAY!"

Ino and Kiba shouted at the same time getting over their shock.

"There is no way that Naruto of all people got himself a girlfriend before me!" The Inuzuka denied.

Zero Two glanced over at Kiba with a sly smirk on her face. "Jealous?" She asked, leaning back against Naruto placing one of her hands against his cheeks.

A dark blush spread across Kiba's cheeks. "NO!" He refuted feverishly.

It took a while but eventually everyone managed to settle down once more, just in time for the food to get done cooking. Though even with it done hardly anybody was actually eating as most couldn't turn their attention away from Zero Two and Naruto, except Choji and even then, his attention was divided. With some fascination, and a fair amount of disgust, they watched as Zero Two drowned all her food in honey before picking it up with her bare hands to eat it ignoring the utensils that were laid before her that she could have used. As disturbing as it was to watch her eat none of them could tear their eyes away of Zero Two, especially the guys, when she started to lick away the honey that coated her hands. Whether she was doing it on purpose or not it was still one of the most erotic things that they had ever seen.

When Zero Two then looked over her shoulder at Naruto, a seductive look in her eyes, it instantly answered the previously asked question. Acting slowly and deliberately Zero Two made sure that she had her Darling's complete attention as she slowly licked her hand clean only stopping when a single digit was left coated in honey. "Here Darling have some." Zero Two temptingly offered, the finger covered with honey held out to Naruto. "Say 'ah~'."

Naruto gulped unable to avert his eyes from the proffered finger as he automatically, and absentmindedly, opened his mouth to accept. Zero Two wore an ecstatic smile with hooded eyes and a darkening blush as she felt her Darling's tongue swirl around her finger.

Choji and Shikamaru found that they couldn't tear their eyes away, as wide open as they were, as they blushed a bright red. Unfortunately for the male members of Team 10 this resulted in them getting jabbed by their blonde companions forcibly snapping them out of their daze; Shikamaru muttering a troublesome under his breath as he rubbed his side as stared wryly at Temari. Two members of Team 8 were suffering from bouts of jealousy for the exact opposite reasons; one wishing to be in Naruto's place, the other wanting to be in Zero Two's. Shino…

… Well it was impossible to tell what Shino was thinking.

Sakura slamming her hands on the table, causing the others to scramble to make sure none of the rattling dishes ended toppling over or on the ground, glared at the pair in annoyance. "Would you stop that?" She demanded of them. "Your making everyone uncomfortable." Sakura claimed.

Zero Two rolled her eyes as she let out a huff. In all honesty she didn't care how uncomfortable she made the others with her actions, especially when she was enjoying herself so much teasing her Darling. But the whole reason that she was there was because Darling wanted her to get to know his friends, which she figured would be hard if they were all too embarrassed to say anything. "Fine," Zero Two muttered relentingly, moving off her Darling's lap with an obviously displeased look on her face, as she reluctantly took the seat next to him. At least she could take some pleasure from the fact that she could still be right next to him.

Sakura let out a sigh once Zero Two agreed to stop and took her new seat. She had only known the other pink haired girl for two days – and not even that – and already Sakura felt like the other girl was going to be the cause of many future migraines and more than likely the reason she would get several grey hairs years earlier then she should. "Well if you're going to be one of us then you should introduce yourself like we did when we first assigned to our teams." Sakura suggested tiredly.

Zero Two stared at Sakura with a raised eyebrow. "Why do I need to introduce myself when you already told everyone my name?" She questioned the girl.

"Sakura means telling everyone a little about yourself." Naruto supplied, drawing Zero Two's attention. "We all shared what our likes, dislikes, hobbies were and our dreams for the future." The blonde shinobi informed her.

"Oh," Zero Two murmured thoughtfully, nodding her head, before turning to look at the others. "Hm, my likes are sweets, fighting, and my Darling." Zero Two started to list off after a moment of thought before continuing, a frown suddenly marring her beautiful features. "I don't like it when people try to order me around." She said, pausing for a second as her eyes flashed a menacing red for the briefest of seconds that caused the others recoil a bit and question if they had actually seen anything when her eyes returned to normal not even a second later, before continuing. "Or try to get between me and Darling." The threatening tone in her voice made more than one person to shudder.

The pink haired girl calmed considerably once Naruto started petting her head gently. "Zero Two," He chastised lightly.

"What. The. Hell." Kiba muttered out loud. Even Kiba was unsure if his comment was about what he just experienced, not that he was sure that anything actually happened, or if it was because he currently being forced to witness Zero Two nuzzling her cheek against Naruto's, a wide grin on both their faces.

From her seat next to Kiba everyone missed, focused on Naruto and Zero Two as they were, how the Hyuuga Heiress' grip nearly tore off a large chunk off of the table.

After about a minute of cuddling up to Naruto, Zero Two seemed to get her fill as she pulled away and returned her focus back to introducing herself to everyone. "Hobbies," The girl murmured, looking like she was giving it some actual thought before continuing. "I'm pretty good at drawing, so I guess that counts." Zero Two supplied, catching Naruto off guard since even he hadn't known that little tidbit about Zero Two. "Reading picture books,"

' _Picture books?'_ More than one person questioned, not having expected something so childish from the pinkette.

"And spending time with Darling." Zero Two finished. That part no one was surprised by.

"Dreams," Zero Two continued thoughtfully before a mischievous smile appeared on her face as her eyes cut to Naruto. "Well I do have this one dream about Darling being covered in honey." She divulged saucily.

Naruto's face burned a bright cherry red as Zero Two's words registered in his mind and he became painfully aware of how everyone's eyes were once more focused on him. "Z-Zero Two!" He spluttered.

With everyone so focused on Naruto as they were, they missed how Hinata suddenly fainted out of the blue for no apparent reason as blood dribbled down her nose; with the exception of the other members of Team 8. Kiba going into a slight panic as he tried to wake the girl.

"What?" Zero Two asked feigning innocence as she leaned in closer. "You said to share my dreams with everyone, and that is my greatest one." The pink haired oni asserted, still acting like she hadn't said anything wrong as she drew closer to Naruto. "Don't act like you don't dream of me in a giant bowl of ramen, Dar-ling~." Zero Two whispered seductively into his ear before nibbling on it.

Impossibly enough Naruto's blush darkened because as much as he wanted to deny Zero Two's statement he couldn't. More than one night – or a couple times a day – Naruto would fantasize of a naked Zero Two in a bowl of ramen that she could lie across; the broth just barely managing to keep the important bits hidden. Even now Naruto could clearly picture Zero Two giving him a seductive smile as she lifted one of her legs high in the air; a droplet of broth running down the length of her leg, then thigh before rejoining the rest of the soup. Naruto never thought he could hate ramen so much, or at all, as he did at those points of time as the ramen kept a certain part of Zero Two hidden from his gaze.

While none of the others could hear what exactly Zero Two was whispering into Naruto's ear by the dopey grin on his face it wasn't too hard for them to guess the contexts.

Sakura dropped her head in defeat. "I give up." The girl muttered as trying to keep these two from doing anything inappropriate seemed to be a lost cause. Not to mention that it was very clear now that Zero Two only served to encourage Naruto's perverted acts.

* * *

"I guess Kakashi-sensei hasn't changed at all in the last few years." Naruto mumbled out loud. Currently he, Sakura, and Zero Two were waiting for the grey haired Jōnin who was of course late to a meeting that he himself had scheduled.

"Not at all." Sakura agreed with a heavy sigh.

"If you know that he's always late to these things why do we have to be on time?!" Zero Two complained, resting her head against Naruto's shoulder from where she stood. Dressed in her mission clothes Zero Two ran her fingers along the metal plate of her new headband that she had tied around her neck. Once more she had been disturbed from her sleep this time because the scarecrow said they had a mission and while she had been initially excited about going out on her first official mission right now Zero Two was more frustrated than anything else. Not only was her morning time with Darling once more interrupted but it seems to have been for nothing since, they had been waiting for the last hour for Kakashi to show up.

After a few more minutes of waiting Kakashi finally made an appearance, showing up in a characteristic burst of smoke with an eye-smile directed at the three.

"Y-!" The greeting that he was going to give was cut off as he had to immediately had to duck down to avoid a kunai that was thrown at him. _'I forgot that she has a tendency to do that.'_ Kakashi thought to himself glancing over at the pink haired girl with horns to find her arm was still outstretched. With everything that happened yesterday the fact that Zero Two threw kunai at him for arriving late had temporarily slipped his mind. At the very least she stopped at one this time.

"Your late." Zero Two pointed out tersely.

"Sorry," Kakashi apologized. "I got lost on the road of life." Immediately following up his excuse Kakashi had to dodge a few more kunai from Zero Two. "Okay," The Jōnin drawled out slowly, keeping a tentative eye on Zero Two in case she tried attacking him again. "I guess I should get to our mission." The man stated, drawing expectant nods from the three teens. With a sigh Kakashi knew that the next words out of his mouth would be hard to hear, for Naruto especially. "We'll be going to Suna." Kakashi revealed, causing the teens to perk up slightly. "The Akatsuki attacked and have captured the Kazekage."

Naruto's eyes widened in shock. "Gaara."

* * *

 **AN: I originally had a bit more planned before ending this chapter, but I felt like I had gone long enough without updating something. Plus, I couldn't get the transition to appear naturally enough for me to be comfortable with, so I decided to end it here instead.**

 **This chapter didn't have any action in it but the next one should more then make up for that. Though when it will come out is impossible to say.**

 **Until next time please remember to review to let me know what you thought.**


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